Perennial

Chapter 28 -- Vex

Smashing a window via telekinesis is surprisingly easy and an amazingly efficient way of quickly getting out of an office you no longer want to be in. I launch myself outside without a moment's hesitation. 
 
The window is located above an alleyway, which works for me. 
 
I slow my descent using – you guessed it – telekinesis. (It's such a useful all-purpose ability. It makes up for my other ones.) 
 
I land in a crouch, breathing heavily. I pull down my neck gaiter and take a moment to sit back and relish in my escape. The air in the alleyway is cool but filthy from pollution and thick with humidity. It makes me miss Icarus, if only for the clean air. 
 
I pull myself to my feet. It's time to go home. A nice, relaxing shower sounds good right about now. 
 
I turn around to leave, only to pause in surprise when I see a teenage boy in the mouth of the alleyway. His jaw is unhinged, his eyes wide. In one hand he has one earbud, in the other, he holds his phone, angled as if to take a picture. 
 
Fantastic. 
 
Isn't it way past his bedtime? Kids these days. 
 
I roll my eyes and prepare to move away. Telekinetic flight is looking like my best option now. 
 
"Wait!" 
 
I freeze. 
 
I know that voice. 
 
I slowly turn back around, seeing him with new eyes, but reaching out for his mind just to be sure. 
 
Disbelief fills me. He's... the last person I want to see right now, someone I never thought I'd see again. 
 
He’s Aether. 
 
Aether, sans perception filter, as his civilian identity.  
 
Now it's my turn to gape. I find my eyes greedily trying to drink in what I’ve never been able to see before, even though this dark alleyway makes it hard to get a really good look at him. He seems to be paler than before, but just as tall. His hair always looked to be a light brown at Icarus, but now I can tell it’s a lot darker than that, probably black, like in the picture on Megan’s computer. His clothes are so… normal. He looks normal. (I don’t know what I expected. Pink hair? Apparently it doesn’t run in the family.) 
 
But he doesn't recognize me. A frown is barely visible on his shadowed features as he slowly wraps his phone in his headphone cords and sets it aside on a dumpster. 
 
He glances up at the shattered window. "Are those the DSHA Offices? Did you just steal something?" 
 
No, Aether, I was out for a nice, innocent stroll late at night, just like back at Icarus. Only in Paradis and while dressed like an infamous criminal. Did you expect anything less?
 
It takes me a moment to realize that those words never left my mouth. They're caught in my throat. 
 
He doesn't recognize me. He doesn't know it's me. 
 
My heartbeat begins to speed up. I want to yell, “I'm Perennial. It's me!” 
 
I don’t. 
 
"Look, I know DSHA isn't the best, but do you really need to break into their office?" he asks, moving towards me slowly, hands out like he's approaching a feral animal backed into a corner. 
 
I slowly begin to return to myself. Is he... is he really trying to have a heart-to-heart conversation with an apparently dangerous criminal about her life choices? 
 
I scramble for a solution as to how I'm going to handle this. My mind keeps drawing blanks. I finally force myself to come up with a scenario that's believable: I'm going to pretend to be angry and crazy. 
 
I'm not angry, nor am I crazy, but I can act like it. That usually scares people off. 
 
But when I move to reply, instead of my answer coming out as a terrifying whisper, it comes out completely wrong. 
 
"Um... Fun?" Great. That sounded flippant, maybe even air-headed. Fantastic. 
 
"... You broke into a DSHA office... for fun?" He sounds incredulous. 
 
Yup. That about sums it up. I shrug helplessly. 
 
He takes another step forward. His body language is calm, but I know he'll be ready to defend himself if I attack. 
 
I straighten, trying to face him with confidence. If it comes down to a fight, there's no way I'm going to allow myself to lose. (I don’t have to face him. I could run. Why am I not running?)
 
The guilt I felt when I first arrived in Paradis chooses this moment to return, slamming into me full force. Aether trusted me. We were friends. And I left him. I don't normally do that kind of thing, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and sometimes we find ourselves doing things we never thought we would. 
 
For example, I never thought that I'd ever end up in a government run Hero School, only to break out of said school by joining some freakish workers union cult thing. Funny how the world works like that.
 
I keep my feet spread apart, as ready as he is for the inevitable fight. (I’m an Overlord. Overlords don’t run from fights. We own this city, and we aren’t afraid to let people know that.) 
 
But, I realize with surprise, I don't want to fight him. I don't want to hurt him. Unfortunately, I may have to anyway. 
 
I assess him quickly. 
 
He's a good twelve or so inches taller than me. (But I'm either stupid or insane because that has never intimidated me), so I may not be able to go for his face or head in hand-to-hand combat (but those shins are mighty tempting). 
 
"Look, I don't want to fight you," he says, inching forward. 
 
Please stop, my mind chants. Stop. Stop. Stop. You don't understand how dangerous I am... 
 
I cannot, will not stop at anything to accomplish my goals. And I cannot, will not, allow anyone to think that they can just stand in my way (stand up to me) like this.
 
It would be so easy to destroy him. Just a flick of my fingers and... snap. 
 
(I don't want that.)
 
I ball up my hands into fists and tense up, but remain silent. I need to get a hold of myself. 
 
I take a deep breath, hoping he can’t hear how shaky it is. 
 
Then I begin to shut out all of my emotions. I can’t afford to let them control me. I can't afford to go soft on him. 
 
His expression darkens once again. "I'm not going to hurt you."
 
It's not him hurting me that has me worried. It's me hurting him. 
 
I step towards him, out of the shadows I’ve been standing in and under the light of a street lamp. He might as well know who he’s up against. 
 
He falters. "Perennial?" 
 
"Actually, it's Vex." I run at him, diving to the side at the last possible second. I dodge around him, hoping to disappear without fighting him. (I might as well try. Dad’s not here to be disappointed in me for not putting him in his place.) 
 
My hopes are dashed as I run into a wall of air pushing me back. He’s used Aerokinesis. I turn to face him once again. 
 
"I don't want to fight you, Perennial, but I will if I have to." 
 
"What are you going to do if you win? Make a citizen's arrest?" I deadpan, standing up straight and looking directly at him, making myself seem more confident than I actually am. 
 
"If you hadn't committed arson, I wouldn't have to," he says, but his voice lacks the conviction I would have expected from him. 
 
Arson? I didn't commit any…
 
I look up. 
 
Oh. 
 
The smoke. Coming from the window I broke. 
 
Talk about unintended consequences. 
 
(I wonder what happened, what the acid has eaten through and exposed and – I suddenly wonder if the stuff is very flammable. I'm far from  being an expert. I hope not.) 
 
Aether comes at me, and I easily dodge him. He's larger than me, less maneuverable. I can use that to my advantage. 
 
My mind runs fast, doing dozens of calculations within the space of a few seconds. I'm a very fast, very logical thinker, and I'm not afraid to use that to my advantage. I'm not afraid to use any advantage that may come to me. 
 
(Except when fighting him. I still don't want to hurt him.) 
 
The wind picks up, fighting against me. This is probably Aether's doing. Again. 
 
I look around for him, but I can't see him. Is he invisible? 
 
I close my eyes and reach for his presence. I may not be able to hack into his mind, but I can at least tell where he is. 
 
There. He's getting closer, heading for me, moving at an alarming rate. Stepping out of his way should be easy, because when someone is going that fast, it's a little hard for them to change direction. 
 
The wind rattles the trash scattered around the dumpsters. A piece of something metal gets caught in the wind and flies out towards me. 
 
I dodge Aether, but I'm not fast enough to escape the metal projectile. It clips the side of my face, tearing at my skin. 
 
Tears sting my eyes. Something warm – blood – seeps onto my skin. I bring a hand to my face. It comes away dark and sticky. 
 
It's just a scratch. I can ignore it. 
 
As he passes by again, I flick out my wrist. Dandelions growing up through cracks in the asphalt grow and tangle together. He trips and stumbles away. Maybe that was a cheap trick, but it’s his fault for not seeing it coming. I probably won’t be able to do something like that again. 
 
He shouts something at me over the wind, but I can't hear what it is. Or perhaps I don't want to hear what it is. 
 
Aether remains invisible. Frustration creeps up in me. I need to be able to see him. If I can't rely on my vision, I'm going to be incapacitated by a migraine soon. 
 
Fighting a photokinetic is not fun. I need to do this quickly. 
 
I close my eyes and strain my mind to see his. He's coming at me again. 
 
I blindly thrust out a hand to hold him in place. Eyes still closed, I advance closer to him. I caught him. 
 
What now? 
 
I open my eyes. 
 
He's visible now. 
 
In the low light of the alleyway, my eyes are immediately drawn to his. His real eyes. They're blue. But not just blue. They're blue within blue within blue. Layers of dark indigo circling sky blue and fading back into a deeper color. 
 
He quite possibly has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. 
 
I cut off the thought right there. Regardless of what his eyes look like, I can't be distracted. I need to decide what to do with him. Knocking him out would be the easiest choice, but how? I can’t hack his mind and tell him to go to sleep. 
 
The unthinkable happens just as the thought crosses my mind. 
 
His eyes narrow in concentration, and then one of his arms starts to move. I watch in a state of incomprehension. How is that even possible? Nothing has ever escaped my telekinetic grip before. 
 
Too late, I try to jerk back, only to have his free hand clamp down on the bare skin of my arm. 
 
An intense dread filters into my stomach. 
 
I try to use telekinesis to push him away, but he doesn't move, or rather, he does, but not away from me, like I want him to. He grabs my shoulders and turns me around, holding my arms by my wrists behind my back.
 
"I'm sorry," Aether apologizes. I think he doesn't want this any more than I do. 
 
In a panic, I try to use telekinesis again, but I can't. It's not working. I close my eyes and try to reach out my mind, but again, I can't. I twitch my fingers, trying get those dandelions to come help me again, or maybe one of the seeds in my pouch, but nothing happens. What's going on? What’s happening? 
 
As a last resort, I slam my heel down on top of Aether's sneaker. Which would have been a great idea, were my shoes not soft and made for moving silently. 
 
"Hey!" He sounds offended, but not hurt. "You really shouldn't stomp on people's feet like that. It's not nice." 
 
I want to scream. What is this? Teach Your Enemies To Be Nice Day? 
 
Aether lets go of me with one hand to reach out and create a gust of wind that blows his phone into the palm of his hand. He's probably going to call the police. 
 
In a last ditch effort, I jerk away from him with all my might and try to fling his phone across the alleyway with my mind. 
 
Much to my surprise, and Aether's, it works a little too well. His phone flies across the alley and smashes onto a wall, shattering to pieces. 
 
"Oops." 
 
"Hey!" Aether turns and glares at me. 
 
"Sorry..." I mutter under my breath. Not because of the phone, but because of what I'm going to do next. 
 
Using telekinesis, I throw him across the alley before he can do anything else. (I make sure I don't throw him hard enough to kill him. I know I have to hurt him. But I will not kill him.) His head slams back against the wall with a crack. 
 
Immediately, I drop him and run over to his side. He's unconscious, and probably has a concussion.
 
Guilt slams into me like an old friend once again. 
 
This isn't what I wanted.